Update: Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken reported Tuesday afternoon that his Facebook page was restored to him, after hackers controlled it for four days.
"After several days of working with Meta and Cowboy State Daily, the account was eventually secured," wrote Bakken in a Tuesday post to the sheriff's official page, which was hacked alongside his personal page on Friday. Bakken also confirmed in a text message to Cowboy State Daily that he now has control of both accounts.
"The page 'Alex Bakken-Carbon County Sheriff' is once again active, along with the Sheriff’s personal page," the sheriff added. "A huge thank you to the team at Facebook, the Carbon County Attorney's Office, the Rawlins Police Department, Bigfoot99 - KTGA 99.3 FM Saratoga/Rawlins, WY and Cowboy State Daily for their assistance," the post says.
Although the Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken says his official and personal Facebook pages have both been hacked, Facebook says it hasn’t detected any evidence of a compromise.
Now Bakken is turning to the Division of Criminal Investigation and, if necessary, the FBI for help with the breach.
The hack happened around midday Friday, Bakken told Cowboy State Daily. He’s been locked out of his personal page and the Carbon County Sheriff’s official Facebook page — which are linked — since that day.
He’s watched them both through friends’ observations to make sure the hacker isn’t faking official sheriff’s releases and communications.
So far, the hacker hasn’t used the official law enforcement page to deceive people, which is a relief, Bakken said.
But he or she is using Bakken’s personal page to sell cryptocurrency.
“Don’t buy any crypto from me please,” said Bakken in a Tuesday phone interview with Cowboy State Daily. He asks people who encounter either page to report them as fraudulent so that Facebook may get enough traction to suspend the pages while Bakken works to deplatform them.
So far, the social media platform’s company, Meta, hasn’t been helpful, said Bakken.
“Our reviewers did not find evidence of a compromise,” says a Tuesday morning email the platform sent to the sheriff. “Based on our investigation, we don’t believe there was evidence to suggest there was a compromise.”
Bakken countered: “Obviously, I disagree a little bit.”
Fortunately for Bakken’s personal connections, most people who know him can tell that the gung-ho crypto seller is not the rural-Wyoming sheriff they know.
Bakken has nothing against the crypto industry, he said, “but it’s definitely not my ballpark.”
The hacker is posting things like, “The last few years has taught me that when it is our time to leave this body no one can stop it. We have one life to live. The material things we invest in are left behind only to be discarded.”
The post goes on to fish for information: “If you are reading this message, make a comment using a single word about how we met.”
When people comment under the posts to alert others of the hack, the hacker blocks them.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
